Ex-RBI chief Dr YV Reddy to lead five-member team
SHILLONG: A five-member team of the 14th Finance Commission, headed by former RBI Governor Dr YV Reddy, would be arriving in the State on Monday on a three-day visit.
Apart from Dr Reddy, other members of the Commission include former Finance Secretary Sushma Nath, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Director M Govinda Rao, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen and former acting Chairman of National Statistical Commission Sudipto Mundle.
Official sources on Saturday informed that the members of the Finance Commission would have no official meeting on the day of their arrival except for a dinner to be hosted by Governor Dr KK Paul at Raj Bhavan.
The official sources further informed that the Finance Commission team is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma along with his Cabinet colleagues and other senior officials at the Secretariat between 10.30 am and 1 pm on Tuesday.
Following the meeting, the members of the Commission would pay a visit to the Horticulture Hub at Dewlieh and Umsning Tea Centre in Ri-Bhoi district.
“They would also visit the Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures at Mawlai later in the evening,” the official sources informed, while adding that the Chief Minister would play host at a lunch programme for the members of the Commission at Hotel Pinewood.
On the final day of their visit on Wednesday, the five-member team would visit the Bio Resource Development Centre at Upper Shillong. The members would then meet the Chief Executive Members (CEMs) of the three Autonomous District Councils in the State and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Shillong, Tura and Jowai Municipal Boards to be followed by a meeting with leaders of various political parties.
The team would also meet members of the Chamber of Commerce, Tribal Chamber of Commerce and Frontier Chamber of Commerce before returning to Delhi, the sources added.
The panel will devise a formula for sharing of taxes and grants between the Centre and the states for a five-year period from April 1, 2015.
Earlier, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had stated that a special reference has been made to the Finance panel regarding debt-stressed states such as Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal.
The Commission will also take into account the taxation efforts and the potential for increasing tax-GDP ratio by such states, Chidambaram said, adding, “All this will help the Finance Commission in making recommendations for states that are far away from the national average.”
The Finance Minister had also indicated that the government may revisit the criteria for granting special category status to states – a demand which was raised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
With the Centre looking at an over 5 per cent fiscal deficit, the Commission has also been entrusted the responsibility of recommending measures to generate revenue surpluses for capital investment as well as potential for additional resource mobilisation to improve the tax-GDP ratio.
The panel would also look into the impact of the proposed goods and services tax and suggest a mechanism to compensate for any revenue loss.